EP0457312A1 - Photovoltaische Anordnung als Spiegel verwendbar - Google Patents

Photovoltaische Anordnung als Spiegel verwendbar Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0457312A1
EP0457312A1 EP91107884A EP91107884A EP0457312A1 EP 0457312 A1 EP0457312 A1 EP 0457312A1 EP 91107884 A EP91107884 A EP 91107884A EP 91107884 A EP91107884 A EP 91107884A EP 0457312 A1 EP0457312 A1 EP 0457312A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
photovoltaic device
mirror
metal film
thin metal
film
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP91107884A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0457312B1 (de
Inventor
Porponth c/o Showa Shell Sekiyu KK Sichanugrist
Norimitsu c/o Showa Shell Sekiyu KK Tanaka
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Showa Shell Sekiyu KK
Original Assignee
Showa Shell Sekiyu KK
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Showa Shell Sekiyu KK filed Critical Showa Shell Sekiyu KK
Publication of EP0457312A1 publication Critical patent/EP0457312A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0457312B1 publication Critical patent/EP0457312B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/02—Details
    • H01L31/0224—Electrodes
    • H01L31/022466—Electrodes made of transparent conductive layers, e.g. TCO, ITO layers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/04—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices
    • H01L31/042—PV modules or arrays of single PV cells
    • H01L31/0445—PV modules or arrays of single PV cells including thin film solar cells, e.g. single thin film a-Si, CIS or CdTe solar cells
    • H01L31/046—PV modules composed of a plurality of thin film solar cells deposited on the same substrate
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L31/00—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof
    • H01L31/04—Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof adapted as photovoltaic [PV] conversion devices
    • H01L31/042—PV modules or arrays of single PV cells
    • H01L31/0445—PV modules or arrays of single PV cells including thin film solar cells, e.g. single thin film a-Si, CIS or CdTe solar cells
    • H01L31/046—PV modules composed of a plurality of thin film solar cells deposited on the same substrate
    • H01L31/0463—PV modules composed of a plurality of thin film solar cells deposited on the same substrate characterised by special patterning methods to connect the PV cells in a module, e.g. laser cutting of the conductive or active layers
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E10/00—Energy generation through renewable energy sources
    • Y02E10/50—Photovoltaic [PV] energy

Definitions

  • This invention relates to photovoltaic devices for use in solar cells, photosensors and other applications. More specifically, this invention relates to photovoltaic devices that are advantageously used in such applications as where the surface electrode is utilized as a mirror.
  • a conventional amorphous silicon solar cell system comprises a plurality of unit solar cells that are formed by superposing transparent electrodes, amorphous silicon (a-Si) film regions and back electrodes on a single glass substrate.
  • the individual unit solar cells are connected in series in such a manner that the back electrode of one unit cell contacts the transparent electrode of an adjacent unit cell via a conductive path.
  • Solar cells are inherently designed to utilize the electric energy directly converted from sunlight and no considerations have been made to adapt solar cells to applications that have nothing to do with this photovoltaic conversion of sunlight to electricity. Since conventional solar cells use tin oxide or indium-tin oxide in transparent electrodes, their reflectance is too low to enable use as mirrors (for the reflectance of SnO2 as compared to metals, see Fig. 2).
  • An object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide a photovoltaic device that is useful not only as solar photovoltaic cell but also as a mirror.
  • a photovoltaic device that comprises an insulating transparent substrate coated with a light-receiving surface electrode formed of a thin metal film which in turn is overlaid with an amorphous semiconductor layer and a back electrode, which thin metal film is adapted for use as a mirror.
  • the thin metal film is formed of aluminum or nickel.
  • the use of a thin metal film as the surface electrode eliminates the need to heat the substrate and permits the use of not only an inexpensive metal target but also the formation of a desired surface electrode with a simple sputtering apparatus, whereby the materials cost can be reduced. Further, the thin metal film has a sufficiently high reflectance to be used as a mirror.
  • Fig. 1 shows the sequence of major steps for fabricating the photovoltaic device of the present invention.
  • a thin film of Al or Ni not thicker than 200 ⁇ is deposited on a glass substrate 1 by DC sputtering to form a thin-film metal electrode 6.
  • DC sputtering may be performed at an argon pressure of 5 Torr with a power of 0.17-0.65 kV being applied.
  • the thin-film metal electrode is worked with a YAG laser operating at a wavelength of 1.06 ⁇ m to form a plurality of surface electrodes 61-63.
  • an a-Si film 3 having a pin junction is formed in a thickness of ca. 0.8 ⁇ m by a plasma-assisted CVD process.
  • a patterned metallic back electrode or conductive printed electrode 4 is formed in such a manner that it partly overlaps an adjacent thin-film metal electrode 6 via the a-Si film 3.
  • the two overlapping electrode portions allow for interconnection between adjacent unit solar cells.
  • One method for establishing interconnection between adjacent unit solar cells was already proposed in commonly assigned JP-A-2-268472 (the term "JP-A” as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application").
  • a laser beam emitting at 1.06 ⁇ m is applied to the overlapping electrode portions form the substrate on the back side, whereupon the thin-film metal electrode 6 and the a-Si film 3 in each photovoltaic region and the back electrode 4 in an adjacent photovoltaic region are heated to melt, forming a conductive path (51 or 52) made of the resulting alloy layer.
  • This conductive channel permits the back electrodes 41 and 42 to be connected respectively to thin-film metal electrodes 62 and 63, thereby producing an a-Si solar cell system in which the individual unit solar cells are connected in series, as shown in Fig. 1(d).
  • the solar cell system constructed in the embodiment under consideration had a very high conversion efficiency as demonstrated by an output of 4.7% for incident sunlight of 200 lux and 5.2% for 1,000 lux.
  • the surface electrode was formed of an Al or Ni film
  • the solar cell system had such a higher reflectance than when the conventional tin oxide film was used (see Fig. 2) and hence exhibited satisfactory performance as a mirror.
  • the solar cell system having the surface electrode formed of a thin metal film when incorporated in a hand-held electronic calculator, the latter can also be used as a mirror.
  • the surface electrode in the photovoltaic device of the present invention is formed of a thin metal film and this eliminates the need to heat the substrate during the formation of surface electrodes, which therefore can be formed by a DC magnetron sputtering process with a simple apparatus and at high production rate. Further, the surface electrodes can be formed at a lower cost using inexpensive metal targets. As another advantage, the photovoltaic device of the present invention can also be used as a mirror, which contributes to the manufacture of commercial products of much added value that incorporate said photovoltaic device.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Sustainable Development (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Sustainable Energy (AREA)
  • Photovoltaic Devices (AREA)
  • Optical Elements Other Than Lenses (AREA)
EP91107884A 1990-05-15 1991-05-15 Photovoltaische Anordnung als Spiegel verwendbar Expired - Lifetime EP0457312B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2123070A JPH0423364A (ja) 1990-05-15 1990-05-15 鏡として利用可能な光起電力装置
JP123070/90 1990-05-15

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0457312A1 true EP0457312A1 (de) 1991-11-21
EP0457312B1 EP0457312B1 (de) 1997-09-10

Family

ID=14851451

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP91107884A Expired - Lifetime EP0457312B1 (de) 1990-05-15 1991-05-15 Photovoltaische Anordnung als Spiegel verwendbar

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US5298087A (de)
EP (1) EP0457312B1 (de)
JP (1) JPH0423364A (de)
DE (1) DE69127579T2 (de)
ES (1) ES2107433T3 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1995003628A1 (de) * 1993-07-20 1995-02-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Integriertes laserstrukturierungsverfahren für dünnfilmsolarzellen
EP1138088A1 (de) * 1998-10-12 2001-10-04 Pacific Solar Pty Ltd Verfahren zur bildung eines durchschmelzkontakts
EP1170805A2 (de) * 2000-07-04 2002-01-09 Hansa Metallwerke Ag Mit Solarzellen versehene Sanitärinstallation

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6166318A (en) * 1998-03-03 2000-12-26 Interface Studies, Inc. Single absorber layer radiated energy conversion device
JP2013090306A (ja) * 2011-10-23 2013-05-13 Hiroshi Kubota 長波長光反射膜を設けた太陽電池付き携帯電話
JP6310548B2 (ja) 2013-05-29 2018-04-11 サウジ アラビアン オイル カンパニー 海上用途のための高効率な太陽光発電装置

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4281208A (en) * 1979-02-09 1981-07-28 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Photovoltaic device and method of manufacturing thereof
FR2577716A1 (fr) * 1985-02-15 1986-08-22 Teijin Ltd Piles solaires integrees et leur procede de fabrication

Family Cites Families (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5651880A (en) * 1979-10-04 1981-05-09 Fuji Electric Co Ltd Amorphous semiconductor photocell
JPS5651879A (en) * 1979-10-04 1981-05-09 Fuji Electric Co Ltd Amorphous semiconductor photocell
JPS5929475A (ja) * 1982-08-12 1984-02-16 Nippon Denso Co Ltd 非晶質太陽電池
JPS59224182A (ja) * 1983-06-03 1984-12-17 Hitachi Ltd 薄膜半導体装置
JPS6043780A (ja) * 1983-08-22 1985-03-08 Akira Kawabata 検知装置
US4782376A (en) * 1983-09-21 1988-11-01 General Electric Company Photovoltaic device with increased open circuit voltage
GB8330578D0 (en) * 1983-11-16 1983-12-21 Rca Corp Inter-connected photovoltaic devices
US4772933A (en) * 1986-02-03 1988-09-20 General Electric Company Method for compensating operationally-induced defects and semiconductor device made thereby
US4936924A (en) * 1987-08-20 1990-06-26 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Thin-film solar battery and its manufacturing method
JPH04118975A (ja) * 1990-03-30 1992-04-20 Showa Shell Sekiyu Kk 光起電力装置及び製造方法

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4281208A (en) * 1979-02-09 1981-07-28 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Photovoltaic device and method of manufacturing thereof
FR2577716A1 (fr) * 1985-02-15 1986-08-22 Teijin Ltd Piles solaires integrees et leur procede de fabrication

Non-Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
21ST INTERSOCIETY ENERGY CONVERSION ENGINEERING CONFERENCE, San Diego, CA, 25th - 29th August 1986, pages 1300-1303; M.F. WEBER et al.: "Transparent silver contacts to A-Si solar cells" *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 10, no. 99 (E-396)[2156], 16th April 1986; & JP-A-60 240 163 (KOMATSU SEISAKUSHO K.K.) 29-11-1985 *
SOLAR CELLS, vol. 13, no. 3, January 1985, pages 265-269; A. MADAN et al.: "New type of contact coating for amorphous silicon solar cells" *

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1995003628A1 (de) * 1993-07-20 1995-02-02 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Integriertes laserstrukturierungsverfahren für dünnfilmsolarzellen
EP1138088A1 (de) * 1998-10-12 2001-10-04 Pacific Solar Pty Ltd Verfahren zur bildung eines durchschmelzkontakts
EP1138088A4 (de) * 1998-10-12 2006-08-30 Csg Solar Ag Verfahren zur bildung eines durchschmelzkontakts
EP1170805A2 (de) * 2000-07-04 2002-01-09 Hansa Metallwerke Ag Mit Solarzellen versehene Sanitärinstallation
EP1170805A3 (de) * 2000-07-04 2006-05-24 Hansa Metallwerke Ag Mit Solarzellen versehene Sanitärinstallation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US5298087A (en) 1994-03-29
DE69127579T2 (de) 1998-02-19
DE69127579D1 (de) 1997-10-16
JPH0423364A (ja) 1992-01-27
ES2107433T3 (es) 1997-12-01
EP0457312B1 (de) 1997-09-10

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